News Highlights: Top Global Markets News of the Day

Federal Reserve officials in June readied plans to start slowly shrinking the central bank's large portfolio of bonds and other assets in the next few months, according to minutes of the central bank's June meeting released Wednesday.

Global Stocks Fall as Bond Yields Climb

Stocks turned lower while German government bond yields climbed to their highest since early 2016 as investors bet central banks were edging closer to an exit from ultra-easy monetary policies.

Oil Falls Amid Global Glut Worries

Oil's rally came to an abrupt halt Wednesday as worries about the persistent global oil glut came back into focus.

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France to Sell Assets to Create $11 Billion Innovation Fund

France's finance minister said he would announce "significant" asset sales in the coming months to finance President Macron's election promise of a $11 billion fund for investment in disruptive innovation.

Second-Quarter Winners & Losers in the U.S. Stock Market

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 have risen for seven straight quarters, fueled in part by investors' expectations for improved corporate earnings and U.S. economic growth.

Active Managers Take on Low Volatility, Helped by a Little Luck

This was meant to be the year that active managers beat the index. Depending on who made the prediction, that was supposed to be because of more dispersion between the best and worst stocks, or rising volatility, or because the correlations between stocks would break down. Still, it wasn't obvious that this environment was that bad for mutual funds that own big U.S. stocks.

Hotels, Cruise Lines, Casinos Among Top U.S. Stocks So Far This Year

Hotels, cruise lines and casinos are some of the best-performing stocks in the U.S. so far this year, reflecting solid demand for travel and leisure despite industry concerns that President Donald Trump's policies could hurt foreign tourism.

Saudi Arabia's state-run oil giant Aramco said it would cut the price of its lighter crude grades to Asia in August, amid rising competition from rival producers in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.